Study 13 – Grace Be With You

I can hear you say, 'But hold on a minute. If Christ is my righteousness, then I can sin and still be righteous! I can be thoroughly horrid, push my way to the front of the bus queue, get angry with people and fail to pray for three months – yet I will remain righteous in Christ! The grace of God seems to give me full permission to sin. The more I sin, the more I will prove the greatness of God. That's the most dangerous teaching I've ever heard!'

Yes, it is. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that if our gospel never provokes the question, 'Shall we carry on sinning then?' we are probably not preaching the gospel at all.

When Christianity is presented as a legalistic religion it doesn't prompt the question, 'Shall we go on sinning?' because what you should and shouldn't do is constantly emphasised.

But Paul's gospel forces you to think, 'If I'm righteous anyway, why don't I simply carry on sinning?'

The answer to the question comes very fast: 'By no means' (Rom. 6:2). The King James Version renders this, 'God forbid' We will look into this more later. For now I want you to dwell on God's amazing grace.

When I was at school I used to paint watercolour landscapes. Once I had painted a blue sky, I could not immediately add a brown and green tree because the colours would all run into one another and make an awful mess on the paper. But if I waited until the blue had dried, then I could continue painting.

We must have a clear grasp of grace before we begin painting on it. Later God may want to teach us various disciplines: intercession, fasting and prayer, but none of them has to do with reigning in life.

If we add them too quickly we are in danger of losing hold of grace and returning to the false belief, 'God loves me if I'm good.' Paint like that on your life and you will make an awful mess!

So live with grace for a while. Let the truth about it set you free. God loves you unconditionally, with an everlasting love. He has made you totally and eternally righteous through faith alone. You reign in life when you 'receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness' (Rom. 5:17).

To Meditate On

God wants you to be strong in grace.

'As God's fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain' (2 Cor. 6:1).

'And the God of all grace … will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast' (1 Pet. 5:10).

'I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified' (Acts 20:32).

Food For Thought

God's grace is a major theme in the New Testament, e.g. I am told that:

Gal. 1:6                I am called by grace.
Rom. 3:24            I am justified by grace.

READ the following verses and, in the same way, write down how grace affects you and motivates you:

Rom. 5:2; 12:6; 2 Cor. 8:7; Eph. 1:7; Col. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:1; 1 Pet. 1:13; 2 Pet. 3:18.

To Recap

TRUE OR FALSE?
(Answers above.)

Be Inspired

The risk of liberty is that some people are bound to misuse it. And because of that, most choose the safe option and say little about freedom other than shouting, 'Don't turn it into licence!' Now listen – there is always the danger that some will do the wrong thing, the destructive thing, the sinful thing. It's like letting our teenagers go. Tossing them the keys is a risk. Every time. But the alternative is not a valid option. No kid ever grew up to become responsible and mature without mom and dad encouraging the freedom to grow.
CHARLES SWINDOLL

To Pray

PAUSE NOW and pray that God will seal the message of grace in your heart. If you need to go back over some of the material we have covered so far, do that. Don't go on until the paint has dried!

'What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase?' (Rom. 6:1)

'For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace' (Rom. 6:14).